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THE TEACHER"-LANDSCAPE 
PAINTING 


BY D.M. CAMPANA 

A practical Irook teaching the testmethod For pain= 
ting, drawing and sketching landscapes and scenes 
contains instructions and many details 














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THE 

TEACHER OF 
LANDSCAPE 
PAINTING 





Copyrighted 
D. M. CAMP ANA 
Chicago, Ill. 

























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PREFACE 



■JliE purpose of this small book is to help art 
students in learning right-hand facts on the 
painting of landscape. 

Having had long experience in this kind 
of art, I feel confident I can suggest certain rules and 
give advice that will help them in avoiding mistakes 
and eliminate many difficulties so common with be¬ 
ginners in all lines of work. A book of this kind con¬ 
tains many instructive suggestions, leads you toward 
the proper method of producing such and such effect 
and is actually as compact and good as a book costing 
several times as much. While an art book cannot 
make an artist, it can, no doubt, educate students in 
planning their compositions, teach them to differ¬ 
entiate between this method of accomplishing an 
effect or the opposite method. It gives a certain 
amount of art training which would require many 
months of practice to attain. Art has fundamental 
rules and those are to be found in a book of this kind, 
and having students well started under the proper 
direction, they will learn continually by their experi¬ 
ence, by observation of their own, and even by the 
mistakes they are apt to make during their efforts 
at producing their paintings. If you only learn from 
this book how to attain a certain good effect, or how 


to varnish correctly your picture, or how to prevent 
cracking of colors, etc., your small initial expense for 
the purchase of this book will be well repaid. Not 
only students need instruction books, but artists as 
well read large number of essays, lectures, books on 
art, etc. New ideas, new point of views on matter 
of technique, new individual opinions on old and 
modern art, bring on the market interesting books 
well read by artists already well established in the 
art world and those new books prove educative and 
helpful to them. This small book also contains indi¬ 
vidual ideas, but more than anything else it contains 
practical suggestions for young artists, given in a 
simple way, easily followed. A good list of other 
books given to special branches of art will be found 
elsewhere in these pages. 

D. M. CAMPANA. 





THE TEACHER OF LANDSCAPE PAINTING 
Colors and Materials 

« HERE are three systems by which artists 
paint their work—oil, water color and pas¬ 
tels. Other systems, such as tempera, 
fresco, etc., are today used mostly for com¬ 
mercial purposes and have few followers among our 
leading artists. Some students feel a natural attrac¬ 
tion for oil colors, others for water colors, and others 
for pastels, and I will attempt to explain what is 
useful in proper colors and the proper system in 
order to attain good results in those three methods 
of paintings. I will begin by giving few peculiarities 
about oil colors not very well known among artists. 

White lead in oil color, is liable to blacken your 
painting especially when used in connection with 
Vermilion and Cadmium, Emerald or the Chrome 
colors. The cause being, that these last colors con¬ 
tain sulphur and the combination will produce sul¬ 
phide of lead, a hidden but sure power that will 
blacken your picture. It is safer to use Zink white, 


7 








THE TEACHER OF 


or Flake white. The more experienced the artist, 
the more limited his palette. Zorn, a very strong 
artist, is said to use only four colors: Black, White, 
Vermilion, and Yellow Ochre, and his pictures are 
considered very good. Oil of linseed is the medium 
for oil painting and care should be taken to use the 
oil in pure state, not the commercial oil mixed with 
litharge, as though litharge helps the oil in dry¬ 
ing quicker, it is made of red lead, and lead affects 
the colors as mentioned above. Any other oil is 
apt to discolor the lead contained in the color. As 
for varnishing a picture, it is necessary to have the 
color thoroughly dry. Some artists say three months 
some say six months or more, but in my opinion 
over two weeks are necessary for pictures with a 
thin coating of colors, six weeks for a picture covered 
with a second coating of colors and, three months 
is a necessary time for heavy colored pictures to 
dry so that the varnish may not cause cracking of 
the picture. The cracking is caused because oil and 
varnish dry at different rates of speed. Rubens var¬ 
nished his picture with a very thick linseed oil, made 
thick by sun exposure. It required a month or more 
to dry but the result was astonishing as we may 
see from the brilliancy of his picture. A master 
says, “as an artist is dependent upon the past, by 
what has been done up to this time by many gen¬ 
erations, and by limited number of materials, it is 
evident that he must strive to see and study all 
of the past art that he can find, and to feed his 


8 




LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


mind constantly upon it.” Old masters such as 
Raphael, Velasques, Titian, Tiepolo, etc., were sent 
as apprentices, below ten years of age and studied 
their art as we study any other trade. They had to 
grind colors, cover the canvas, clear the studio, copy 
their teachers work, and finally help in sketching 
the teachers work. I wish to say also that in dry¬ 
ing your paintings, proper results will be attained 
by drying it in the open air rather than drying it 
by artificial heat. Artificial heat is one of the causes 
for the cracking of the colors, the oil requiring con¬ 
siderable time for the evaporation, and a forced dry¬ 
ing will make it shrink and eventually crack. 

Water colors, of course, has no handicap in this 
respect, because those colors dry within a few min¬ 
utes. Pastel colors have no drying problem at all, 
as they are in powder form like chalk. A liquid 
is sprayed over them when the picture is finished 
and this liquid drys at once. 

If painting is entirely new to you and if you do 
not have the necessary materials needed in your 
art work, it will be advisable for you to purchase 
a variety of colors, brushes, etc., of which I give 
a list in this chapter. It is understood that you 
intend to paint landscapes and that the list found 
here would not be quite complete if you would wish 
to paint figure or portrait pictures or other sub¬ 
jects. 

Many concerns sell oil painting outfits, water color 
outfits, pastel outfits, etc., such outfits containing 


9 




THE TEACHER OF 



more or less colors but not all together the shades 
you possibly require for your pictures. For instance, 
an outfit may contain twelve colors, another fifteen, 
another twenty-four, etc., this latter of course being 
preferable for the larger number of shades it con¬ 
tains. It would be better, in your case, if you could 
purchase individual colors, and other articles as you 
may need and make up your own outfits. It may 
cost a little more, but you would not have unneces¬ 
sary things of no special use to you, and what you 
buy would always be useful in the different paint- 


10 








LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


ings you may undertake at later time. Outfits as you 
purchase, already made up, must of course contain 
colors for general work, as they are purchased by 
students painting almost any subject, but for land¬ 
scape work, a special selection should be made as 
also special shades should be had for field pictures, 
marine, or snow pictures, etc. Different selection 
of brushes is also advisable in connection with paint¬ 
ing of different nature and size of your work and the 
following list will, no doubt, help students in pur¬ 
chasing the proper articles and in this way facili¬ 
tate their undertakings. 

There are endless shades of colors in every one 
of the three systems of paintings of which I have 
given the best and mostly used shades. Pastel, for 
instance, can be found in such gradation that in 
the blue alone, fifty shades is a modest estimate 
figure of what is manufactured, and so it is with yel¬ 
lows, greens, reds, etc. These shades are only a 
mixture of the original Dark Blue with different 
proportions of White until the blue is nearly white 
in tone. Oil colors are also very numerous, perhaps 
to satisfy many pecular style of works followed by 
such a large number of artists, nearly all of them 
having some idiosyncrasy of their own. Water col¬ 
ors have a large palette, but a limited number of 
shades are generally used, and these are clear, dis¬ 
tinctive, fundamental shades, easily intermixed. 
Therefore, the lists shown here contains as good 
a selection as any student or artist could need in pro- 


11 




THE TEACHER OF 


ducing landscape work of all kinds. There are now 
the different other kinds of materials needed to make 
up the outfit and such can be made up as follows: 
For Oil Painting: 


Oil Colors 

(Best Quality) 


Zinc White 
Ivory Black 
Van Dyke Brown 
Emerald Green 
Raw Sienna 
Burnt Sienna 
Vermilion 
Cobalt Blue 
Prussian Blue 
Dk. Chrome Yellow 


Lt. Chrome Yellow 
Yellow Ochre 
Dk. Chrome Green 
Lt. Chrome Green 
Naples Yellow 
Alizarin Crimson 
Raw Umber 
Carmine 
Cassel Earth 
Terra Verte 


One box either wood or japanned-tin, large enough 
to contain all colors, brushes and oils. 

Wooden palette size of box. 

Two Bristle Brushes of each size, No. 2-8-12-18. 
Oil Cup (double). 

Bottle boiled linseed oil. (Best quality). 

Bottle good Turpentine. 

Palette Knife. One Bottle Dryer. 

One piece of Rag. One Bottle Varnish (Soehne). 
Canvas either mounted on stretchers or on card 
board. 

1 Resting Stick. 

1 Canvas Stool. 

1 Wooden Easel. 


12 




LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


As to cost of those outfits shown in this chapter, 
there is in art, different quality of materials as in 
any other craft. We figure out that the best qual¬ 
ity Oil Painting outfit complete, as listed here would 
be about $ 17.00, while a more modest quality one 
may come down to $12.00, and by eliminating box 
and easel, about $7.50. Ready made outfits can be 
bought also for $5.00 or so, but materials are re¬ 
duced in number. Perhaps a student willing to paint 
for pleasure can find these cheap outfits sufficient. 


Water Colors 
(Best Quality) 

Hooker's Green No. 1 
Hooker's Green No. 2 
Vermilion 
Indian Yellow 
Prussian Blue 
Cobalt Blue 
Dk. Cadmium Yellow 
Burnt Sienna 
Raw Sienna 
For Water Color Painting: 

1 Red Sable Brush No. 1 
1 Red Sable Brush No. 4 
1 Red Sable Brush No. 10 
1 Camel Hair Wash Brush % inch. 

1 Water Receptacle 
1 Piece of Rag 

Water Color paper either in sheet or block. 


Emerald Green 
Van Dyke Brown 
Yellow Ochre 
Carmine 

Alizarin Crimson 
Light Cadmium 
Paynes Gray 
Ivory Black 
Burnt Umber 


13 





THE TEACHER OF 


Water Color outfits as shown complete, best qual¬ 
ity tubes, would cost about $15.00, and by using 
the colors in 1/2 P ans the cost of the outfit may 
come down to about $10.00. For economy sake, red 
sable brushes could be substituted with camel hair, 
saving about $1.00. By using medium quality goods, 
an outfit could be cut down to 5 or 6 dollars, and 
instead of buying a Block of Paper you could pur¬ 
chase one sheet, saving considerably. 

For Pastel Painting: 

Wooden Box japanned to contain colors and stomps 
(12 smallest paper stomps) 

6 Medium size Stomps. 

Piece of Rag. 

Bottle of fixatif. 

Pastel paper or pastel Board. 

1 Atomizer 

Wood Easel „ . . 


Pastels 

(Best Quality) 


Black 
White 
Dk. Brown 
Middle Brown 
Lt. Brown 
Dk. Vermilion 
Med. Vermilion 
Dk. Blue 
Middle Blue 
Light Blue 


Pale Yellow 


Lemon Yellow 
Orange Yellow 


Dk. Chrome Green 
Med. Chrome Green 
Lt. Chrome Green 


Carmine Lake 
Crimson Lake 
Cobalt Blue 


Emerald Green 


14 




LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


Pastel outfit, best quality, as shown in our list 
complete may cost about $10.00, and by changing 
to medium quality goods, it costs around $6.00 
The above materials, (for the different methods of 
painting) are necessary articles with every artist. 
Any person taking up art seriously could not very 
well discard any of them, as they are all useful, but 
students with limited means could reduce their num¬ 
ber as for instance, fewer brushes, buy colors without 
japanned box, no easel, no stick. It would only be 
a matter of compulsory economy, but to do proper 
work like in any line of business, student should 
have sufficient tools to meet difficulties as they arise. 

In regard to paper or board for pastel work, please 
notice that the surface is the same both on paper or 
on the board. Their surface is slightly rough, the 
rougness being produced by a coating of delicate 
hard powder applied over the paper. There are also 
papers made with a rough texture that will hold the 
pastels when rubbed on over it. 

Catalog showing large variety of Colors, Brushes, 
etc., will be sent free by writing this author. 

Having described the principle articles needed for 
your painting, there is now nothing else to do but 
to dispose them in your box, and begin to draw your 
subject with pencil or charcoal, lightly and cor¬ 
rectly, before general tints are applied. 


15 




THE TEACHER OF 


Do not stand in the sunshine to paint your pic¬ 
ture unless you and your picture are protected with 
a field umbrella, as your sight is bound to be affected 
by the strong ray of sun illuminating the canvas, 
and your vision of the landscape will be untrue. 
Keep your canvas in a slant position, as in this way 
it will receive better light from the sky. In water 
color this slanting position of your picture is necess¬ 
ary to allow the colors to come down and blend in 
with other shades. 



16 




BEGINNING THE PAINTING 


N THIS book I will not deal with the elemen¬ 
tary stages preparatory to the painting, 
such as how to draw, how to dispose your 
colors on the palette, how to hold your 
brushes, etc., as students are supposed to know some¬ 
thing about those primary stages and they are now 
attempting to learn specially landscape painting out- 
of-door. My previous books “The Teacher of Water 
Color Painting/’ “The Teacher of Pastel Painting,” 
and “The Teacher of Oil Painting,” describe very 
closely every point about getting ready and to those 
books I would refer students entirely strangers in 
the art of painting. Remember before all, that out- 
of-door copying is many folds more difficult than 
in-door work. You have there not only to contend 
with drawing, but the change of light, with variety 
of colors, with atmosphere, with composition, and 
your eyes are bound to be bewildered by this number 
of problems presenting themselves to your mind all 
at once. You see before you a chain of mountains, 
distant villages, forests, rivers, animals, clouds, etc., 
and your first thought should be to study which and 
how many of those subjects could be used in the 
composition of your pictures. Surely, you could not 
embrace so vast a field, and you could not undertake 
so tremendous task of reproducing the whole scene 
in front of you, first for your lack of art education 



17 



THE TEACHER OF 


and second because nearly in every reproduction of 
this kind, a part of the landscape must be sacrificed 
to produce good composition, and unnecessary things 
are eliminated to the benefit of others. It is then of 
the utmost importance that you study out part of the 
scene as you see and make up a scene of your own, 
combining far away line, broken by trees or subject 
in the foreground, a curve of the road, the water, 
etc. I just mentioned those individual subjects, just 
as a matter of explaining things as clear to you as 
possible. I wish also to say that I am speaking to 
you as teacher to student, as if you were an accom¬ 
plished artist you could paint landscape in its full¬ 
ness as you see and do an excellent job, but as 
a student, you must begin in a smaller way and 
learn by degree and steady work. By doing sim¬ 
ple things in the begining you will not become con¬ 
fused with many difficulties and will gradually accus¬ 
tom your eyes to distinguish', and to compose more 
important works. In chapter On Composition, 
page 36, we will dwell at length on various points 
pertaining to your first task, that of planning your 
picture, and having read such a chapter you follow 
those advices as much as you can. I presume that 
your present effort is to copy a field landscape on 
a clear, sunny day. I presume^also there are trees, 
meadows, sky and mountains. You will no doubt 
understand how difficult it is for me to guess what 
a landscape you are going to copy and I must of con- 


18 




LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


sequence attain myself to a subject very often ob¬ 
served in almost every country. First of all paint 
your sky, void of clouds as being more easy to 
describe. Note that such a sky is generally darker 
on the foreground, or so to say “above your head” 
than in the far distance toward the horizon. Cobalt 
Blue and White mixed, will give you a fair general 
shade for a clear blue sky perhaps mixed with a 
trifle of Vermilion to warm it up as it is generally 
on warm, sunny days. The farther down you go with 
your color toward the horizon, the more White you 
add to the Cobalt Blue so as to make a gradation 
of shade giving you the impression of receeding 
sky, often a trifle of Emerald Green is added to the 
White and Cobalt Blue, instead of Vermilion, pro¬ 
ducing a more hazy color effect. 

Have plenty of color in your brush and use as 
large a brush as you have. A sky is large and must 
be treated with large strokes and plenty of paint. 
Remember the promising art student feeling disa- 
pointed because his pictures did not appear good 
enough to him. A friend artist happened to see 
him work, and hearing of his feelings, asked him 
to let him show how to improve his picture. He 
sat down and proceeded to empty all his color tubes 
on his pallette and told him not to leave his picture 
until all those colors were used up. So he did, with 
his great surprise at the result. Previously his 
painting lacked the body, they lacked surety of 


19 




THE TEACHER OF 


stroke and that blendness of tone which only a full 
brush can accomplish. By touching over previously 
applied, still fresh colors, you will brush slightly over 
one another and soften up the edges. Accustom 
yourself to use a good deal of colors and especially 
for your sky as the illusion of the sky vastness 
is better expressed in broadness in the application 
of the colors. It is very possible that after other 
parts of your picture are sketched down, you may 
still have to go over the sky again to harmonize or 
alter its strength to comply with other things, but 
this cannot be decided until later on. Begin now 
to apply the color of the mountains which starts 
at the lower end of your sky. You will notice that 
the color of such a subject is rather grayish, or 
neutral in tone, such being the effect of object seen 
through great stratas of humidity and light reflec¬ 
tion. Apply the color of the mountain by using 
Cobalt Blue, a trifle of Vermilion and White so as 
to make a dark purplish shade. Add to it a trifle 
of Raw Sienna to make it more subdue. You must 
judge by yourself, how much of the blue you need, 
also how dark this mass of color should be. Some¬ 
time mountains are dark and at some other time they 
are medium-light and gray. Note also that those 
mountains have lights and shadows, also spots of 
varied colors caused by forests, rocks, towns, etc., 
all those spots must be shown by the addition of a 
trifle of Dark Green for forests, trifle of White and 


20 




LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


Raw Umber for rocks and similar color for villages. 
Coming down farther you find greenish spaces of 
trees and folliages and those should also be repro¬ 
duced in a low tone perhaps darker than the moun¬ 
tains, but more on the neutral green and heavier. 
Apply this color using dark Chrome Green mixed 
with a trifle of Crimson Lake to take away the 
brilliancy of the Green and in the meantime to have 
a certain connection with the color of the mountains 
which is also neutral and purplish. Apply the 
trees in a course way without details. Sketch down 
the meadow in light Green toned down to keep it 
far in the background. Sketch all trees, water, 
roads, etc., until you come to the foreground where 
all colors should be clear and bright. I say that 
these colors should be clear and bright, so as to 
express the general rule, as there should be a diff¬ 
erence between colors in the distance and color in 
the near ground, this variety giving the impression 
of perspective. For instance, it is only necessary 
to have more strength, more detail, and more mas¬ 
terful strokes in the foreground rather than brighter 
colors, and your receding effect will be easily accom¬ 
plished. It is a general rule with a majority of 
artists to sketch down those incidental subjects com¬ 
posing the landscape, such as trees, rocks, roads, 
grass, etc., in a darker tone than their natural color, 
and work them out later on, by applying lighter 
and more correct shades in the finishing of the 


21 




THE TEACHER OF 


picture. It is also a common method to use extra 
warm shades for the first sketching as this warmth 
will help the successive colors to be applied at the 
finish. You have now finished your first applica¬ 
tion of color and you can set your pictures aside, 
in a dry, airy place for at least twelve days or 
more. In fact, much longer drying would be more 
appropriate as mentioned in other chapter of this 
book. Colors must be perfectly dried out before you 
begin to work on it again, to avoid darkening of 
the colors. When you will be able to work further 
on this picture, take care that the weather and the 
light be the same as when you started it. Remem¬ 
ber also that the light of the day is continually 
changing and three or four hours, in the full neon 
is about as long as steady effect as you can have 
for your landscape. In the earlier or later hours, 
changes of colors and light are continous. You must 
therefore begin and finish your picture under the 
same atmospheric condition as when you started. 
In this second sitting, you may leave untouched the 
sky above, unless you find it is too light or too 
dark for your picture. The first sky coating now 
dry, may be sufficient for your picture. Presuming 
that your picture is dry, begin to apply more color 
with the intention of bringing it farther toward 
its finish. This second application of color should 
be very accurate and as close to the natural general 
effect as you intend to do, because while in the 


22 




LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


first sitting your colors might have been sketched 
down rather carelessly and considerable darker than 
they should be, toward the end of the painting more 
accurate shades, more details and more harmony be¬ 
tween the tones must be your aim. Now is when 
your knowledge of drawing becomes useful, in rep¬ 
resenting those trees, those mountains, those rocks, 
etc., with easy roundness of form, with sure quick 
touch of your brush, light of form and true to nature. 

I gave this description for oil colors, but the same 
general line of coloring can be followed with Water 
Color and Pastels. Apply your sky at first, your 
mountains, hills and further down to the lowest part 
of the painting which is called foreground. Of course 
in Water Color Painting, there is no need in waiting 
days for the drying of colors, as you can keep up 
your work up to the end. This apply also to Pastel 
Colors which allows continous work to the end of the 
picture. In Water Colors, I must again warn stu¬ 
dents to avoid covering spaces which should be 
in strong high light. The white paper represents 
your lighter tones. Keep it clear of any color and 
you can wash over the delicate tones toward the 
finishing of your picture. Remember that White 
should not be used in Water Color Painting, and 
though you may be compelled to transgress the rule 
in time you should learn to follow the best method 
and discard White from your palette. 


23 





COLORING 


B HERE are artists who think the best col¬ 
orists are those gifted with perfect phys¬ 
ical eyes, that is, those eyes that are, by 
nature, furnished with a perfect construc¬ 
tion of the nervous system of their eyes. Such 
artists think that any attempt by otherwise im¬ 
perfect eyes to see nature colors as it actually is, 
is all vain attempt giving no results. For me I 
believe that if a student should train his inferior 
color sense by copying a large number of pictures 
with varied beautiful color effects, he would be 
bound to acquire considerable knowledge and im¬ 
prove his coloring considerably. I still remember 
impressions of my student life when I painted such 
and such a subject with a certain color and still 
see now such an object with that color which I was 
taught to use many years ago. There are, of course, 
color blind artists, whom try as they may, cannot 
produce any harmonious color effect, but such cases 
belongs to the variety produced by nature and called 
imperfect, much as a person having no hearing for 
music. In general, I feel certain, students can learn 
coloring by early and proper training, or simply 
by looking and copying many good pictures in good 
colors. Their brains are bound to hold those im¬ 
pressions much as a student learning arithmetic, 
mathematics, etc. It should be remembered that 


25 



THE TEACHER OF 


harmony in coloring does not mean bright colors, 
but harmonious colors. Raffaeli paints Paris scene 
mostly in black, white, and blue, and green, make 
from those colors a combination producing harmon¬ 
ious painting, quick sales of his work and medals. 
Artists classify varied shades as “warm colors” and 
“cold colors.” For instance, warm colors are red, 
orange, purple, carmine, vermilion, and orange yel¬ 
low ; cold colors are light yellow, greens, blues, mauve, 
black. Perhaps this classification may be arrived at 
because reds, yellows, etc., are representatives of 
sunlight and heat, while blue, black, green, etc., bet¬ 
ter represent dawn and night, and are named cold 
because this term is the opposite of warm. Cold 
colors are restful, warm colors are stimulating and 
often irritating. You rest better in a room painted 
with subdue gray tones, than in the open sunshine, 
or in a room painted in yellow or red. Even a bull 
jumps at a red flag and fowls will become enraged 
by the sight of red clothes. Old masters such as 
Rysdael, Hobbema, Salvator Rosa, etc., painted land¬ 
scapes in brown, gray, blue and many subdue colors, 
producing a chiaro-oscuro effect caring more for re¬ 
lief effect, than the brilliancy of color, and only 
about 100 years ago artists began to use brighter 
coloring and attempt to depict true out of door 
scenes, with a perspective produced by different 
tones and shades. Sorolla y Baptista (Spanish), 


26 




LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


Michetti (Italian), Harrison (American) with strong 
gift for coloring, give us strong example of this 
modern movement which will no doubt be only a 
step to more progress by generations to come. 

As previously mentioned, old masters used to paint 
their pictures with Bitume, brown, green, black, 
blue, and white, finishing up their work with little 
attempt at coloring. When the painting was thor¬ 
oughly dry, they applied over those dark colors a 
small variety of clearer shades, terra rossa, orange, 
etc., producing a well balanced effect, but void of 
brilliancy and vibration. The sky lacked the brill¬ 
iant blue, trees were of a blackish green, the first 
application of brown color, being still dominant over 
the second coating of brighter shades. 

I would suggest to students the starting of their 
pictures in a general coating of warm tones, warmer 
than nature, and to cover such effect in finishing 
their work with cooler shades. Small spaces or 
strocks of the former warm tones showing through 
the second application will improve your effect con¬ 
siderably. 

Avoid the use of Black and Brown on landscape 
painting not only on account of its bad influence 
in atmospheric harmony, but also because i^“ will 
alter other colors used in connection with it. Paint¬ 
ings by old masters are often showing this bad effect, 
by becoming dark and flat. Corot Knew how to 
brighten the effect of his landscapes simply by paint- 


27 




THE TEACHER OF 


ing his women or children with occasional touch 
of crimson or red, or orange. Otherwise his trees, 
roads, rocks, etc., were more in grayish tone. Have 
no harsh lines, but blend as much as possible the 
edge of the different masses, to prevent undue stiff¬ 
ness. 

Harrison says: “Our ability to counterfeit na¬ 
ture in a picture depends upon a palette made up of 
a certain number of dead pigments whose scale of 
light and shades is ludicrously inadequate when 
compared with nature. Being Limited on the ma¬ 
terial side, the best we can do is to translate the 
infinite. 

Value scale of nature into our sadly limited scale 
of pigments, and endeavor by most careful balance 
to adjust our means to our end.” 

Nature, however beautiful, is not art. Art is na¬ 
ture in its beauty interpreted through human tem¬ 
perament. Having looked at it and analysed the 
different subjects of nature, students begin to use 
as many of those elements as their sense of beauty 
tells them to be appropriate for their work. It 
is now up to them, to their art education to pro¬ 
duce something sane and beautiful by combination 
of nature and inspiration, truth and beauty. Art 
is not things as their are, but thing as they should 
impress our eyes, not the actual nature but the vis¬ 
ual one. 


28 




LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


It is a scientific fact that trees are green, and 
yet it is likely to be gray, blue, purple, amber, etc., 
according to the influence of light, such as full light 
of day, at the sunset, or at night. Water, rocks, 
fields, etc., have a definite natural color, but the ap¬ 
pearance of those colors change according to the 
light of the day. When a student goes outdoor to 
study his new picture, his mind is possessed by a 
number of ideas regarding scientfic facts, of lines, 
composition, etc., and sees the landscape not ex¬ 
actly as it is, but as he was taught in former stage 
that it should be. This is a great handicap from 
which he must forcibly extricate himself. 

Study the combination of colors and form from 
nature, sky, water, field, etc., and apply them in a 
way that such a variety of shade etc., may produce 
a harmonious ensemble, a picture of beauty, void of 
physical errors, and full of loving appreciation by the 
public. 


Color Harmony 

Harmony of colors comes within the scope of at¬ 
mosphere and value. Certain colors placed near cer- 
tan others will give a pleasing effect, while a bad 
selection of shades will produce a contrast hurting 
your very eyes and very feeling. To acquire a sense 
of harmonious coloring is one of the most difficult 
attainments and good colorists are very few indeed. 
I have seen large numbers of landscapes, sunny 
scenes of men, animals, water, landscapes, etc., 


29 





THE TEACHER OF 


where, while the effect of the light was perfect as 
shown on men, etc., the color of the sky was too cold 
or dull to harmonize well with the general effect. 
While the general combination of shades may be 
good, one subject only, for instance a dress, a para¬ 
sol, a house, etc., with a purplish tone, ora pink shade 
of a peculiar kind, would actually kill the sunny effect 
of the whole picture. The effect could not be sunny 
if it included such a cold shade. The'same could be 
said of a subdue effect, as for instance a dawn, a 
twilight effect where every color must be neutral 
and subdue. If you should have a clear yellow, or 
a scarlet spot somewhere in the picture, this spot 
would upset the whole effect. A snow scene with its 
gray combination of shades would be upset by the 
introduction of a bright clear yellow, or such a shade 
as Emerald Green, Crimson Lake or Carmine, etc. 
In most cases those colors would stand out to the 
detriment of the general effect of the painting. Na¬ 
ture of course, with its space, natural light and per¬ 
spective can better withstand contrast of color of 
all kinds, but the reproduction of such contrasts on 
canvas always gives harsh results. To be a good 
colorist, and be able to paint harmonious color effect, 
is nearly a natural gift. A person can learn colors 
considerably by application, practice and long study, 
but spontaneous colorism is born in the artist. I 
would like to state that in my opinion, Water Colors 
offer an easier task in producing harmony of colors 


30 




LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


in a picture than oil painting and a reason for this 
I believe is the transparency of water colors and the 
carelessness of its handling. In looking at a num¬ 
ber of paintings hanging in an art gallery, you 
will notice that while many of them are painted 
in bright colors, others are entirely of the subdue 
type. The Angelus by Millet, represents a landscape 
subject at the time of the day when the sun has 
already disappeared and the light of the day is slow¬ 
ly disappearing. The general color is in gray, brown 
and black effect, and the two figures in the center 
are also in the same general dull color. If they 
were dressed in bright Blue or other clear colors, 
they would spoil the whole effect. This picture is 
very harmonizing in color and well balanced. Noc¬ 
turne, by Whistler, seems to be nearly monochrome. 
The far away light along the Thames are barely 
visible but truly balanced the effect of the gray pic¬ 
ture. If they were bright, the whole harmony of 
color would have been spoiled. Take on the other 
side the Assumption, by Titian, you will see here 
a magnificent combination of red, blue, brown, yel¬ 
low, green, and almost any clear color. There is 
no grayish space to mar the display of shades and 
every part of the picture harmonizes well with all 
other parts. Tiepolo, the master and the greatest 
decorator of all, has exquisite combination of colors, 
great sweeps of grays, blended into blue, flying red 
draperies blending into brown and black, vast spaces 


31 




THE TEACHER OF 


of warm gray sky surrounding majestic composition 
of architectures and figures. 

Those artists are the guide and teachers of gen¬ 
erations past and to come. With them, coloring was 
natural and they felt that the intermixing of a color 
with another could produce soft shades, and they 
knew how to speak to our eyes by their manipula¬ 
ting of harmonious effects. To give here a list of 
colors that would harmonize with one another would 
be out of place as given rules in art would prevent 
experimenting, and limit the ambition of students, 
whom are apt to follow suggestions and avoid te¬ 
dious hours of study. Good combination of colors 
as we can see every day, are “Red, Brown, Black,” 
“Orange, Red and Brown,” “Gray, Blue, Black,” 
“White and Blue,” “Crimson Violet, Purple and Or¬ 
ange,” “Canary Yellow and Black,” “Vermilion, Vio¬ 
let,” “Purple and Gray,” etc., those effects are nearly 
all strikingly strong but harmonious. Middle shades 
are made up by intermixing, but as it is impossible to 
give close proportions of colors to be mixed in order 
to attain a given shade, we will allow students to try 
out and make their own combination, which are limit¬ 
less in numbers and effects. We have mentioned har¬ 
mony of colors as seen in landscape, but, as a matter 
of course the same method applies to figure, still 
life, animal life, etc. In painting a portrait of a 
beautiful lady, the artist is bound to keep a certain 
scale of colors that will make a pleasing combina¬ 
tion. Too strong a color in her clothing might hurt 


32 





























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* 

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— - M. • - • . - 

mm m i i » —•- ■■ .»■ —■»- »—■ • - ■. — — . ■ ■ i ■ - ■ - - - 




























LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


the effect of her complexion. The background also 
should conform with the clothes and flesh coloring. 
Take for instance, a lady dressed in a beautiful 
white, embroidered cloth, the whole of the picture 
would look well in gray tones, with a gray back¬ 
ground. On the contrary, a portrait of a young 
lady dressed in clear orange clothes, the back¬ 
ground would harmonize well in a brown shade 
or also in a deep red tone color. A touch of Cobalt 
Blue sky and a clear green bonnet, would make a 
striking effect but harmonious. All these examples 
are to lead the students towards a method of paint¬ 
ing with a good harmonious coloring well recog¬ 
nised by artists, critics and connoisseurs. 



33 











PERSPECTIVE 



]]VERY student knows what the word per¬ 
spective means, viz.: the science of draw¬ 
ing natural subjects with such proportions 
of lines that they will appear correctly 
leceding into the far space. A building, if long 
enough, would have its top and lower lines con¬ 
verging so as to approach and come together at 
a far distance. A railroad, if straight, begins with 
a broad space and by receeding into a far distance 
becomes narrow and smaller. To reproduce those 
effects and many others, students should study Per¬ 
spective. It requires a special study, found in text¬ 
books given specially to this kind of work, which is 
not very easily mastered. A thoroughly educated 
artist studies perspective just as a doctor studies 
anatomy; both are fundamental to their training 
and are necessary. We mentioned a thoroughly ed¬ 
ucated artist, as in art academies of reputation, stu¬ 
dent must graduate in perspective as well as in his¬ 
tory, architecture, composition, drawing, anatomy, 
and many other sciences. In less important insti¬ 
tutions, pupils are allowed to follow their whim, and 
either draw or paint with the result that these stu¬ 
dents are not at all conversant with perspective so 
necessary to correct reproduction of nature. Their 
education is limited and unless they are geniuses 


35 




THE TEACHER OF 


by nature, their works will be always very limited 
in quality. I wish to say by this, that a special 
study of perspective, from a text book on this sub¬ 
ject, will give students more confidence and strength 
in their work. It is a difficult study by itself but 
extremely useful. 

In a few words the science of perspective, teaches 
how to reduce scientifically the proportion of a sub¬ 
ject according to distance, so that such subject may 
not look distorted when observed in connection with 
other parts in the picture. Buildings, bridges, roads, 
constructions, etc., must be painted within corrected 
perspective lines, so that they may stand properly 
erect and not leaning sideway or toppling over. Of 
course mountains, trees, water, etc., need but little 
knowledge of perspective, but so to keep their shape 
and proportion within their proper place, a certain 
knowledge of perspective is always useful. While 
we speak of perspective as to line and proportion 
I wish to mention perspective of color, or gradation 
of color according to distance. This subject being 
already mentioned in the chapter on atmosphere. 

A near-by color looks stronger and brighter than 
farway colors, such effect being caused by the 
amount of humidity in the air and by reflection of 
light between your eyes and the object itself. Yel- 


36 




LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


lows, being strikingly clear, red and orange are 
mostly used for near distance, Purples, Violets, Blues, 
Grays, better represent distant subjects. 


Atmosphere and Value 

If your landscape has good atmosphere it is good. 
This word, in the artist’s vocabulary, signifies soft¬ 
ness, perspective, harmony, it signifies that every¬ 
thing is in its own place, that the picture is bal¬ 
anced, satisfying, and that your eyes can see around 
the different objects contained therein. If your fore¬ 
ground is to strong, if the trees are to bright, the 
harmony is impaired and your eye being attracted 
by those strong colors, the atmosphere appears to 
be faulty. We all know that atmosphere means more 
properly, air, sky, firmament, a thing that allows 
you to look through, indefinite, immense in its deep¬ 
ness, and surrounding every object over-water, soft¬ 
ening the distance, and details. The artists use this 
word very often in judging landscape paintings 
where atmosphere has so strong an influence, and 
he will say “this painting has a good atmosphere,” 
it represents the proper time of the day, be it sun¬ 
light or moonlight, and there is no bad contrast to 
break the harmonious effect. Value is another word 
often used by artists, but this word represents more 
the proportion, so to say, of colors or spaces to one 
another. The word “Value” can be used in judging 


37 





THE TEACHER OF 


a number of flat tints, where the word atmosphere 
could not be used. A spot of black among several 
light shades, would spoil the value, it would dis¬ 
arrange, unbalance the effect and therefore your 
value would be bad. Also in spacing a design, where 
one side would be very elaborate and large and the 
other side light and flimsy, the value would be bad. 
Atmosphere on the other side, softens your distnaces, 
connects the different subjects, makes your moun¬ 
tains gray and your shading bluish and soft, pro¬ 
ducing the harmony for which artists always strive. 
In looking at a landscape you will notice that the 
farther the distance the lighter will be the color, 
and you will notice that those far away colors be¬ 
come more and more gray perhaps bluish. This 
is caused by the greater and greater volume of at¬ 
mosphere and humidity between you and those dis¬ 
tant points. It is difficult to say which color, if any, 
would be more appropriate to represent atmosphere, 
but of all other colors I believe Blue would be the 
one, as the sky appears blue and objects at a large 
distance changes slightly toward a blue shading. 
The painting of a sky with a good transparent at¬ 
mosphere is not an easy matter. The blue is hazy and 
soft, sometimes even a trifle purplish, fading away 
in a distance with a trifle greenish cast. The stu¬ 
dent is bound to paint it pure blue, and solid, and 
such a sky will not have the correct atmosphere. 
It is advisable for students to sketch continually 
from nature, but in a broad experimental style. For 


38 




LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


instance, paint down only masses of colors, without 
detail, trees, roads, mountains, sky, water, etc., in 
different plain masses, so as to learn at first how 
to produce good value and good atmosphere. Those 
masses of colors are the principle support of a paint¬ 
ing and details will later bring forward the balance 
of your work. 


Composition 

The great object of composition is always to secure 
unity, that is, to make out of many things one 
whole. The best method by which this can be done, 
is by determining that one feature shall be more 
important than all the rest, and that the others 
shall group with it in subordinate position. 

Composition means, literaly and simply, putting 
several things together so as to make one thing out 
of them, the nature and beauty of which they all 
have a share in producing. Thus a musician com¬ 
poses an air by putting notes together in certain 
relation, a poet composes a poem by putting thought 
words, in pleasant order, and a painter paints a pic¬ 
ture by putting thought form of nature and colors 
in a pleasant composition. In all these cases an 
intended unity must be the result of composition. 
It is a selection of form and color producing dis¬ 
cipline and contentment. Every line and color is so 
arranged as to give advantage to the rest. None 
are inessential, just as in a song no note is inessen¬ 
tial as one prepares for the next note and every- 


39 





THE TEACHER OF 


one has a value in the composition of the song. 
It is of course impossible to give rules which would 
enable you to compose your picture as if this would 
be the case, most pictures by students of those rules 
would paint pictures very much alike. 

Though no one invent by rule, there are some 
simple laws of arrangements which is well for you 
to know, because, though they will not enable you 
to produce good pictures, they will often assist you 
to set what beauty may be in your work in a more 
telling way than you could have done otherwise. 

Composition depends from the force of individual 
mind, also from observation of a good variety of 
pictures as shown in art galleries, studied carefully 
and from such observations a certain education and 
training can be absorbed by the student. Like color¬ 
ing, as mentioned in a different chapter, observation 
of good pictures and possibly copying them, will im¬ 
press your memory on those fundamental principles 
giving those paintings their beauty and reputation, 
and such observation are bound to educate your taste 
and bring you good returns. 

Harrison says: “Any motive that is worth paint¬ 
ing must have a central point of interest. Concen¬ 
trate on that at sacrifice of other things. Don't try 
to say two things in one canvas.” 

Don’t divide your picture into spaces of equal size 
and proportions. Don’t put the horizon line right 
in the center of the picture. Have it either lower 


40 




LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


or higher. If you have a large mass of trees, moun¬ 
tains, heavy clouds, etc., dispose them in a manner 
that they may balance up the picture, and not all 
of them in one side of the painting. Have no two 
paralell lines. Don’t crowd your subject, allow them 
space to breathe. Don’t include in your canvas any 
unnecessary thing that may belittle the general 
sense of beauty and grace. Keep your eyes in other 
artists work and possibly visit good exhibits and 
gallerys observing their way of disposing, dividing 
and arranging, and draw your conclusions. One of 
the most important things is to visualize your sub¬ 
ject so that you shall be able to group your values 
in large and simple masses. Do not go after small 
things or little details, as human eyes cannot pos¬ 
sibly see details at distance, but observe and com¬ 
pose your subject in large masses and leave detail 
to imagination. 


Drawing 

In landscape painting, drawing occupies a place 
of importance such as color and composition and in 
order to reproduce nature in its true shape, such 
as mountains, trees, rocks, etc., a good knowledge 
of drawing is essential to good workmanship. It 
should be studied before attempting to paint out-of- 
door landscapes, copying subjects of all kinds, figure, 
still life, etc., as only in this way a more close view 
of things can be had and better understanding of 


41 





THE TEACHER OF 



their form. When good knowledge of drawing is 
attained, your attempt of out-door can concentrate 
on such important points as coloring, value, atmos¬ 
phere, etc. When students will be able to draw well 
form nature, they will have no difficulty in drawing 
correctly a tree, a stream, etc. Furthermore, by 
studying drawing at first, you will alleviate a good 
deal of the difficulty that would issue from the study 
of colors and drawing in the same time. It is an old 
proverb that, Drawing is the foundation of art in 


42 










LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


all lines, and that color is of secondary value. 
Though such a statement may be a little overdrawn;, 
I, myself am convinced that drawing takes a very 
important place even in landscape painting, and no 
doubt, takes first place in figure painting. 

As I have mentioned on another chapter of this 
book, old landscape masters, painted nearly in black 
and white (so to say) and washed over their pictures 
a limited number of colors. They knew how to draw 
well, and produced well admired work. 


Sky 

A painted sky is far better and more transparent, 
when handled with little brush work, and little tamp¬ 
ering. This point refers mostly to water color paint¬ 
ing. A sky is naturally transparent and beautifully 
blended, and such should be your aim in attempting: 
to reproduce it. You will also find that as a rule 
of perspective, the fore-ground and the far-way 
ground of the sky varies in strength and brilliancy' 
of color. It may have a darker color at the horizon 
or the darker color may be in the foreground, but 
a difference there is and should be shown in your 
painting so as to produce the perspective effect. An¬ 
other mean of producing perspective effects is an 
interuption or breaking up of the sky space, which 
can be done with clouds, sweeping backward or for¬ 
ward, but giving a suggestion of varied distances. 


43 





THE TEACHER OF 


Small clouds are apt to produce this effect, as they 
act more like steps, reduced in size or in color. 
Light and Humidity in the atmosphere are the direct 
cause for variations in the coloring of a sky and hu¬ 
midity can be so heavy as to produce a misty or 
grayish looking distance. In a dry country, such 
as Mexico, Italy or Spain, the sky is generally of 
more even color, because humidity is very scarce. 
Such lack of humidity keeps clouds from forming 
and the sky is therefore solid and blue. As I have 
mentioned before, simplicity in my opinion, is a 
strong help in producing a good sky effect, and I do 
believe in painting the whole sky when the color 
is still fresh. You can then blend in and model the 
different shades, easily and correctly. In order to 
work properly in water color painting, you must 
have an exact conception of your effect, and have 
all your colors in quantity, disolved in small saucers, 
so that when you start to apply your colors you may 
be able to continue until the whole sky is completed. 
Start always from the upper part and have your 
picture in a leaning position, and the color will run 
down and leave no pools. To make a good water 
color sky is rather difficult, and an artist often uses 
a badger blender, or a large dry camel hair brush, 
to spread or blend colors or remove pools and spots. 
This work is feverish and must go quick. In oil, 
on the contrary, you can work more at your ease, 
(unless you use a drying medium in connection with 


44 




LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


your art colors) and you can easily work over fresh 
colors for the whole day and change and mix your 
shades very easily. 

However, I would not advise to work again ever 
the same colors the following day, because the colors 
have already begun to dry and it is now better to 
let them dry thoroughly before you touch them 
again. Pastel painting can be handled in almost 
any manner because such colors never dry or change, 
but as a rule, I would always try to finish the sky 
while your first inspiration holds out. As for the 
colors used in painting a sky, it is necessary to 
consider the general effect of the other portion of 
the landscape, be it folliage, water or any other sub¬ 
ject. For instance, if the landscape contains a great 
deal of trees, meadows, or green in general, my sky 
would be more in the Prussian Blue and White, 
so to say, while if the landscape would contain a 
great amount of white buildings, roads, rivers, etc., 
illuminated by sunlight, my sky would be more in 
Cobalt Blue and white. The definition of the colors 
as I gave should not be taken as a final, but only to 
explain the influence one part of the landscape would 
have on the other. The painting of a blue sky with 
a transparent, deep looking atmosphere, is very dif 
ficult and after considering the influence of the sub¬ 
ordinate parts of the landscape, as mentioned before, 
I believe, a good sunny clear sky is attained by using 
Cobalt Blue, Flake White, and a very trifle of good 


45 




THE TEACHER OF 


Vermilion. I have used Carmine instead of Ver¬ 
milion, but find Vermilion more transparent, and of 
course very, very little of this color is used, just 
enough to warm up, or give a little transparency to 
the blue tone. Such a sky would be a good, sunny, 
plain, blue sky, reduced toward the horizant with 
more white and a trifle more of Vermilion to in¬ 
crease the warmth of the atmosphere. Close pro¬ 
portions of colors cannot be given, as a little color 
makes a considerable change in the mixture, but of 
course a good deal of white is needed, little Cobalt 
Blue and a very little speck of Vermilion. Many 
artists apply these colors with a flat square bristle 
brush, called “Bright” and apply the colors allowing 
the individual stroke to show. This stroke effect 
is pleasing and gives a certain lightness and trans¬ 
parency to the sky. Of course the canvas should be 
covered quickly and smoothly at first and further 
brush work applied afterward, while the colors are 
still fresh. Clouds could be left in plain canvas, to 
be filled in after the general sky ground is finished. 
If the sky color is in blue, your clouds should have 
considerable blue in their shadings, so as to har¬ 
monize. Those shadings, could be in gray varied 
strength, and such colors could be made by adding 
a trifle of Bone Brown to the Flake White and 
Cobalt Blue. The silvery edge of the clouds, or the 
high lights should be painted in Flake White, mixed 
with a trifle of Cadmium Yellow, or Deep Chrome 


46 




LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


Yellow. This last mixture gives a warm sunny effect 
to the sky as those clouds, so painted, will appear 
illuminated by the sunshine. For a dark day effect, 
or a cloudy, stormy day, such would have to be 
painted more in subdue, grayish tones, for instance, 
Flake or Zinc White mixed with Cobalt Blue, Raw 
Sienna and Ivory Black, making good gray tones, 
altered by the addition of more or less of those 
given colors. Perhaps a trifle of Vermilion will give 
warmth to occasional parts. It is very necessary 
to harmonize these different shades in a way that 
warm colors are used for the sky, the other parts 
of the landscape should be painted in warm tones 
also. As for Water Color Painting, a good color 
for a blue sky would be Cobalt Blue mixed with 
a very trifle of Carmine. I do not advise the 
use of Vermilion with the Cobalt Blue, as these 
two colors are liable to separate, but Carmine 
will be a good substitute. A good blue sky effect 
is also made by mixing Cobalt Blue with a trifle 
of Emerald Green, this giving a somewhat hazy 
appearance to the effect such as you notice in the 
evening near the time of the sunset. The Emerald 
Green can be added in larger and larger proportions, 
with the farther receeding of the perspective. The 
greenish color is very effective and appropriate in 
a marine or water scene, where there is much humid¬ 
ity in the air. In every case or with any effect 
produced in water color painting, the artists should 


47 




THE TEACHER OF 


prepare the different shades in small saucers, ready 
at hand, and have an abundant supply of all, so 
that when they begin at the top, they can come 
down quickly, change the shades without loss of time 
and with perfect blending. It is always safe to 
moisten the paper with water, before you undertake 
a broad sky or back ground. You can use a sponge, 
very clean, and pass it over the whole paper once 
or twice, and when your paper is all covered you 
apply the colors. If the color does not appear 
to be as smooth as you wish, you can take a large, 
dry camel hair brush with straight-cut end and 
go over your colors, brushing very ligtly here and 
there until your colors are perfect. It very often 
happens that your first coating of water color 
dries out lighter than you expected and you may 
then have to repeat it, either by using the same 
tint as used before or by adding a trifle of more 
water to the same tint. Remember that the 
sponge which you have applied in the beginning 
has taken away from the paper a good deal of 
its absorbing quality and your color has not ad¬ 
hered enough to make the dark coating wanted. 
In this chapter I have given only one single effect 
for sky painting while actually every sky you paint 
has some kind of variation from the other. But, 
though the method may be the same as described 
here when you paint any sky effect, I will give else¬ 
where a more varied description of the colors used 


48 





t 






































LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


according to the varied effects, and before I over¬ 
look it, I wish to advise students in water colors to 
work as simply as possible and do away with many 
clouds or incidents, requiring much work or tam¬ 
pering. Too much tampering or overwork makes 
a water color painting solid, while its beauty should 
be transparency. I have known several very good 
artists adding a trifle of white to their sky colors 
for the purpose of making a more flat effect, while 
other artists depend entirely on their skill in apply¬ 
ing tints quickly and without hesitation. This of 
course is the most difficult and the best. 



49 









WATER 


ATER, even when not perfectly pure, acts 
like a looking glass and reflects the sur¬ 
rounding views. When clear and pure, 
such water not only reflects the sky and 
landscape, but it becomes a deep, transparent body, 
with fishes, weeds, branches, etc. In order to re¬ 
produce such a transparent deepness, and paint a 
water that will not look like a wooden plank, it 
is necessary to connect those subjects reflected in 
the water and the general color of the water itself, 
in a smooth manner, blending in the colors so that 
no sharp line may appear too prominent and hard. 
The still water of a pond or of a lake, reflects the 
sky, the hills, the trees surrounding it, reflections 
being specially clear in the middle of the day, when 
the sunlight is central and strong. Reflections are 
also good after sundown, but not so good when the 
sun shines at an angle, as for instance, in the early 
part of the morning or few hours after the noon 
period, when the water has a more shiny and flat 
appearance. This change is caused, in my opinion, 
by the sunrays striking the water sideways. The 
light deflects from the water producing a glaring 
or plain effect, but at early morning, at noon, and at 
evening a still water is always more transparent 
and the work will be more difficult and elaborate 
for the artist. In a rough water of course, the waves 



51 



THE TEACHER OF 


or ripples will break up the different images, the 
general color will be more even, and the blending in 
of shades no as difficult as in a smooth surface. In 
oil colors the blending is considerably easier than 
in water color, as in this later all shades should be 
blended in without showing the joining of tints. 
Students should keep in mind that the reflections 
in the water are always darker in colors than the 
object causing the reflection. So if a house on the 
water bank is white, the reflection in the water is 
a light gray. If the trees are of a clear light green 
shade, the reflections will be an olive tone, a boat 
painted in Vermilion Red, will cast a reflection in a 
much darker tone. The sky is also reflected in a 
much darker shade. It is also to be remembered that 
perspective must be shown in the painting of water 
just as it is shown in landscape pictures over land. 
Either the water is darker on the horizon and light 
in the foreground or otherwise and such a variety 
of color must be shown. Waves and ripples are more 
prominent and larger in the fore-ground than in the 
far-aw r ay view of the picture, and reflections follow 
the same principle. In painting water, I always ad¬ 
vise students to start from the horizon and come 
gradually down to the foreground, considering high 
lights, reflections, waves, etc. In oil colors such care 
is not particularly necessary, but in water color, 
every high light is to be kept out white and clean, 
and considering the number of high lights gener- 


52 




LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


ally found on the water, this work becomes difficult. 
Light reflections for instance, should be kept plain 
white, or if possible covered at once with the proper 
tints so that the edges will flow and join smoothly 
with the color of the water. When the sky is cloudy, 
the reflections in the water become more elaborate 
and difficult, and it is always better to have the 
varied shades ready at hand and two or three brushes 
so that everything will proceed with speed and cor¬ 
rectness. The rough water of the ocean, full of 
movement and waves is difficult for the fact that 
in their motion you must show a close connection of 
the different waves as they work toward or away 
from you just like a chain, linking one link with the 
other, one coming high, to allow the next one to take 
its place, moving toward the same direction, up and 
down to come up again, full of life and color. What 
is difficult in this case is the reproduction of such 
an easy motion, which must be natural and not 
a solid and stiff effect, a wave that crash under its 
own weight, transparent, water like. Waves should 
be smaller and lighter as they recede toward the 
background and strong in color toward the fore¬ 
ground. In water color painting, high lights should 
be carefully kept clean, especially on the white 
sprays at the top of the waves. As for the color 
to be used, it seems that a considerable size list 
of effects could be mentioned, as the color varies 
according to the light and atmosphere. Gener- 


53 




THE TEACHER OF 


ally the local color is a cold gray, a mixture of 
a Raw Sienna with a touch of Emerald Green and 
White. Another strong clear green effect often 
seen, is made by mixing Cobalt Blue and light 
Chrome Green, having reflections of the Cobalt tint 
of the sky. On a dark Gray sky, the shading of 
the waves is often of a blackish Blue very rich and 
clear. A Prussian Blue blended down with white 
and a trifle of black would be good, but the most 
important point, is the drawing, the shape, the con¬ 
nection of the waves, the uninterrupted chain that 
holds without unduly interruption. Remember that 
those waves must always appear in horizontal lines, 
so to say, as if you show them following one an¬ 
other in a curved line, the surface of the water will 
appear broken and out of place. Water is horizon¬ 
tal and all waves when not in the foreground must 
give a certain impression of horizontal movement. 
In a stream, the water is broken up by rocks, weeds, 
trees, etc., but even in this case the effect should 
be always nearly flat and horizontal this being the 
natural position of water. 

(See page 81 for colors.) 



54 






TREES AND FOLIAGE 



'IREES and foliage represent a very impor¬ 
tant part in the painting of landscapes, 
as very seldom a country landscape is 
painted without plants of some kind. It 
may be a tree, or it may be bushes, or perhaps 
a flower path, or a meadow, but the green touch 
is there, hence the necessity to study this sub¬ 
ject in its full form and coloring. Above all, re¬ 
member that a tree trunk, though not very dif¬ 
ficult, is very easily reproduced clumsily and with 
a bad movement. The small branches are easily 
painted too stiff and too loaded with leaves and 
taken in general, the paintings of trees requires 
considerable practice., I advise students to draw 
a good many trees, with pencil, and copy them 
accurately, following their movements, their curves, 
point of junction to the branches, etc. In fact 
you should make it your rule to study all individual 
parts with pencil until you feel that you can paint 
it well even from memory. 

A birch tree, a pine tree, an oak tree, a willow tree, 
etc., all have an entirely different anatomy, not only 
the bark is varied but their movement is also indi¬ 
vidual. Above the main trunk, thick branches come 
up and from these, other and other branches, but 
if you observe you will find that those branches 
attach themselves and spread out in their own par- 


55 














LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


ticular style. Another mistake easily incurred, too, 
is the overloading in leaves. In order to paint trees 
with their natural airy effect, you should not paint 
solid masses of foliage that will cover the move¬ 
ments of the stems entirely. Be rather light and 
allow the supporting branch to show through here 
and there, allowing also occasional spaces for the 
sky. In this way your trees will look well and nat¬ 
ural. In painting trees from nature you will easily 
notice that cluster of leaves spread out also in dif¬ 
ferent ways. Oak leaves, for instance, make up 
rather flat clusters and leaves hang on in a flat posi¬ 
tion, so to say, branches spreading outward. Pine 
trees on the contrary have oblong clusters of leaves 
and move upward, weeping willows have hanging 
down leaves and branches, etc. These three in¬ 
stances illustrate clearly the importance of study¬ 
ing correctly the different nature of the trees, and 
you will gradually notice that nearly every one of 
them have some peculiarity of their own. Remem¬ 
ber that trees can be made not only natural but 
that they offer strong decorative possibilities, this 
point for me being very important, as a painting of 
any nature, set up on bad line of composition, looks 
incongruous, unbalanced, unsatisfactory. Trees 
come here to your help, simply by giving you op¬ 
portunity of arranging the correct kind of tree ac¬ 
cording to your present need. Place it where it 
fills a wanting spot, where there is need of a certain 


57 




THE TEACHER OF 


color strength, etc. A number of chestnut trees or 
oak trees well disposed, with an occasional tall, dark 
pine tree coming up behind them, make a decorative 
group. A meadow surrounded by low, round bushes 
with a dark ground of tall trees light and dark, in 
shade, pleases your eyes, is true and decorative. In 
painting those trees it is very advisable to use 
brush strokes to comply with the motion of those 
leaves and clusters. To mention again the three 
species mentioned before, I would use small and per¬ 
pendicular strokes when I paint pine trees, I would 
use horizontal strokes when I paint oak trees and 
would use large perpendicular strokes when I paint 
weeping willow trees. The stroke-work counts very 
much, indeed, and makes the character of the tree 
more easily described and understood, though it 
should not be carried out with the idea of giving 
too much detail and try to show a small stroke for 
every leaf. Notice that in tree foliage, the center 
part of the cluster should show more solidity and 
the outer part of the cluster a more soft and inter¬ 
rupted color, to convey impression of air and trans¬ 
parency. Allow small branches to show through 
here and there and touches of the sky within the 
foliage will brighten the effect. Stroke-work will 
also help very nicely in painting meadows, using 
generally small upward touches. As for the colors 
used on tree painting, this point would be difficult 
to describe, because not only different trees have 


58 




LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


different colors, but their colors vary also with the 
season of the year. A dark green tree in the spring 
of the year will be yellow, or red toward the end^of 
autumn, and the change comes gradually. In water 
color painting a very useful color for trees and 
foliage is the mixing of Indian Yellow with a trifle 
of Prussian Blue, more or less of this latter accord¬ 
ing to the subject to be painted. This mixture is 
good and sunny, and when used in combination with 
Raw Sienna as a shadow, it makes a very good com¬ 
bination. In oil painting I advise the use of Chrome 
Green, light or dark (according to effects), for such 
a foliage as found on flowers, on bushes, weeds, etc. 
Such work, in landscaping, is more easily handled 
than trees, their construction being small and easily 
described. The colors on those small plants are, as 
a rule, of a dark green shade, and I would suggest 
the dark Hooker’s Green for water color, altered 
with Indian Yellow. A very useful green color for 
touches and in connection with other greens, is Em¬ 
erald Green or Veronese Green, these two shades 
being rather similar and very bright. Those shades 
apply both to water color and oil color paintings. 
Of course, you know that blue and yellow mixed 
produce green. Prussian Blue, Permanent Blue, 
Cobalt Blue are very often used in foliage and tree 
paintings mixed with Light Cadmium Yellow, Dark 
Cadmium Yellow, Naples Yellow, Indian Yellow, etc. 
They make good mixtures in combination between 
themselves. For Green shadings, I use Raw Sienna 


59 




THE TEACHER OF 


or Bone Brown, but, of course, it all depends on the 
light of the day and on the color of the tree. On a 
sunny day, shading on green life is rather warm 
and purplish, some of these shadings coming close 
to be a purple color itself, and the combination of 
color is good. On natural light, the shame shadings 
are colder, and Raw Sienna and Bone Brown mixed 
with Green will give better results. In water color 
painting, occasional small spots left in plain white 
paper, suggesting bright high lights, will improve 
the effect and give life to the foliage. Do not over¬ 
look the fact that the distance affects and alters the 
brilliancy of all subjects, trees included. A tree 
bright in color, when in the foreground, will be 
more gray and subdue when painted in the faraway 
ground; this, as we mentioned before, being the 
effect of atmosphere, the humidity in the air, etc., 
laying between your eyes and those trees. 

(For colors of varied trees see page 80.) 



GO 







HOUSES AND BUILDINGS 


H N THE painting of landscapes, students 
will find some difficulty in giving the 
correct perspective line to houses and 
buildings of all kinds. The study of per¬ 
spective, at least in its primary form, is strongly 
advised and when the first theory is understood it 
will be easier to copy houses and paint them so that 
they may not look out of joint. If you stand in the 
middle of a straight road and look straight ahead 
of you, you will easily notice that the sides of the 
road seem to converge toward one another and join. 
In other words, the road is becoming narrower the 
farther it goes, this having the effect of perspec¬ 
tive. If you would paint such a road as broad at 
the end as it is at your feet, the effect would be of 
a road standing straight up in the air. Any build¬ 
ing on your landscape will have a straight line on 
that side facing you squarely, and will have the 
sides, slanting downward at top and upward at bot¬ 
tom, like the road of which I spoke above. The 
corner of that building nearer to you, will be taller 
than the opposite farthest corner. The difference 
between roads perspective and building perspective 
is that, these latter converge top downward, and 
bottom upward, while roads converge from right 
and left. This special perspective movement of the 
building applies only when those buildings are at 


61 



THE TEACHER OF 


about the same level as where you are standing. If 
they are higher or lower, the convergence would 
be downward or upward, accordingly, and to explain 
correctly these incidental perspective movements, 
would take considerable time and space. As I have 
mentioned elsewhere in this book, landscape stu¬ 
dents should buy a small perspective textbook and 
acquire at least a light idea of the theory of 
perspective. Paint buildings in a simple fashion, 
that is, with as few strokes as possible. The gen¬ 
eral cornice of the house comes at first and win¬ 
dows, doors, etc., can be applied afterwards. If you 
notice details such as cornices, cracks, uncovered 
bricks, etc., those will come after you have a gen¬ 
eral local color of the building. The same applies 
to the color of the roof, small details in the slates, 
tiling, etc., coming toward the finishing touches. 
Do not be too finicky, apply those details in their 
proper place, but rather broadly. A little touch or 
two is sufficient to give the proper character to the 
cornice, the tiles and the roof can be suggested with 
the two or three lines, provided those lines are in 
a correct direction. As for doors, windows, porches, 
etc., those also are painted after the local color of 
the house is applied. The building may be white 
or in color, and students will use their own judg¬ 
ment in finding the proper shades. Bricks are gen¬ 
erally painted with Burnt Sienna perhaps mixed 
with a trifle of Dark Chrome Yellow; red tiles in 


62 




LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


the houseroof are painted with the same colors. On 
a sunny day, if the buildings are white, their shady 
sides are in a purplish blue tone, while the white 
part of the building, illuminated by the sun, is a 
trifle yellowish, leaning toward orange. Plain white 
would not harmonize with the purple in the shaded 
walls. The farther the houses are from the fore¬ 
ground, the more faded should be their colors, as 
this gradation of strength will help the perspective 
of the landscape. Wooden shacks, barns and similar 
structures, are painted in Bone Brown, white, and a 
trifle of Burnt Sienna to warm up the tint. Those 
wooden houses must also be painted with a simple 
method and few strokes, keeping an eye on their 
correct perspective. To paint large buildings with 
elaborate architecture is not advisable for young 
students, unless their knowledge of perspective is 
well advanced. 

(See also page 83.) 



63 






























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. 


















. 








♦ 






' 


















■ L. ' , 

•• _ . 

^ r-,\ 






. 


V 



















.. * , 4 










ROCKS AND ROADS 

PAINTING rocks from nature, it should 
be remembered that especially large rocks 
are better reproduced by a very simple 
brush work. Those rocks have a well pro¬ 
nounced light on one side and just as strong a 
shadow in the opposite side. After having found 
the proper color, apply those rocks in two dif¬ 
ferent shades, one light and one dark, as simple 
as you can. Have the edges sharp, because this 
gives a better impression of cut stone, and ap¬ 
ply few long strokes here and there of a very 



65 







THE TEACHER OF 


dark color long way and sharp. Nearly all rocks 
have some cracks or unevenness, and these long 
strokes will give them the proper appearance. Of 
course, there may be moss hanging on them, or 
bushes, or soil, and all those incidents must be 
copied, but if you proceed to do all in a very simple 
manner and little detail, you will have the best 
results. 

The color of rocks varies from dark gray color 
to muddy reddish tone. In such states as the 
southern states, the general color of rock is of 
the clay kind or a Raw Sienna shade, warmed 
up with a trifle of Chrome Orange. For the light 
side I would add a trifle of Naples Yellow to 
those two colors. As for very dark touches Van 
Dyke Brown would about complete the palette. For 
gray rocks, more generally found in the eastern 
states, I would use Ivory Black, a trifle of Crimson 
Lake and a good deal of White according to light 
and shadows. A very small quantity of Burnt 
Sienna or Chrome Green may be added if necessary. 
Apply color in long flat strokes and work your 
brush so that every stroke shows up and counts, as 
rocks are not painted alone, but make part of the 
landscape you are painting. You must, of course, 
subordinate the colors of the rock to the general 
tone of the landscape so that, for instance, if the 
rocks are surrounded by many green trees, or green 
meadows, these rocks will acquire a greenish cast. 


66 




LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


On the contrary, if they are surrounded by water 
or by a yellow clay, the rocks should be painted to 
conform slightly with a such a shade. This co-ordi¬ 
nation of color is necessary in order to make a har¬ 
monious color effect. As for the roads, especially 
rough country roads, which colors are of the clayish 
tones, Raw Sienna, with a trifle of Burnt Sienna 
mixed with a good deal of white, will make the 
proper tone. In painting roads, just like in paint¬ 
ing rocks, the strokes of the brush (how you place 
it, its direction, its size, etc.), helps considerably, 
and you should, for instance, when you wish to 
paint wheel marks, come down in a long continuous 
stroke. While on the contrary you should use small 
curved strokes to represent stones, small rocks, etc. 
This stroke work is mentioned separately in this 
book and is very important. On roads having a 
dark color, a trifle of Vandyke Brown mixed with 
white and perhaps warmed up with a trifle of Burnt 
Sienna, will bring the correct shade. Of course, 
students, as mentioned above, should use their judg¬ 
ment when mixing colors, and use more of one or 
of the other, adding other new colors until the 
proper tint is produced. 

(See also page 83.) 


67 





HILLS AND MOUNTAINS 


ILLS and mountains make a good back¬ 
ground to almost all kinds of landscapes. 
The gray tones of the distant mountains, 
often broken up by a snow patch or 
white clouds, harmonize well with greens, blues 
and natural colors of the sky and country scene 
below. It impresses you as if such mountains was 
a necessary accessory to the whole, as if you 
could not produce a good effect without them. Note 
for instance, a commercial artist, or a decorator, 
painting quantities of landscapes from memory. 
You will see that invariably he will have mountains 
in all his works, unless the work might be an ocean 
scene or a group of buildings. In painting a land¬ 
scape it is always better to paint at first the sky 
and coming down lower and lower from the top, add 
the mountains and from them down to the other ob¬ 
jects, until you reach the low part of the painting, 
called the foreground. By doing this, you can 
blend in the mountain to the sky and to the ground 
below them without showing hard lines or poor 
handlings. It is better to have this background 
done in the beginning because your trees, buildings, 
or whatever you have to paint, can be now more 
easily handled and completed to cover the already 
painted sky. If you would paint the trees at first 
and afterward the sky and mountain it would be a 


69 




THE TEACHER OF 


tedious work to apply the sky between the tree 
branches, between the cluster of leaves and the 
small leaves themselves. In general, mountains are 
in a gray green or even purplish tones, this later 
color being more often seen at sunset time. They 
should have as little detail as possible, because a 
far away object cannot properly be seen in detail 
and will therefore be painted in few colors and 
simple treatment. The upper part of the moun¬ 
tains are generally painted in a lighter tone than 
the base, this being not only proper because the 
upper part is more strongly illuminated by the light, 
but also because a darker base gives more solidity 
to such a large volume of ground. Furthermore, 
the lower part of a mountain is more covered with 
vegetation, while the upper part is often covered 
with snow, is more rocky and of lighter ground. 
Hills, of course, are lower and more covered with 
trees, pines, bushes, even smooth grass and pas¬ 
ture, and coming in front of the mountains, give a 
good perspective effect. If the hills are green the 
mountains are gray, and the color of the sky will 
be intermixed with the summit, so as to harmonize 
the two. In the evening, as the sunlight illumi¬ 
nates those high peaks, the lower parts should be 
darker to produce the proper contrast. Notice also 
that those illuminated peakes are of a soft pink 
tone, a reverberation of the sun, setting in a strong 
dark red glow. Do not paint the mountains too 


70 




LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


solid, as they generally are broken up by valleys or 
deep crevices, wash-outs, or protruding rocks, and 
such incidents will produce at large distance a 
variety of shadings, not detailed but noticeable. A 
building in those far mountains could not be seen, 
but such a building could easily be suggested in the 
near-by hills where more detail, more trees, fields 
and roads could be shown and understood. The top 
of those mountains are very often covered with 
heavy clouds caused by humidity. Sometimes, when 
the landscape contains little of interest, a number 
of clouds are painted on to break the monotony and 
to make the picture more interesting. Sometimes 
a number of flying birds are also used for the 
same purpose. In painting mountains and hills, do 
not forget the principle of light and shade, so that 
you will apply the shades always on the opposite 
side of the light. In other words, the light is to¬ 
ward the sun and the shades on the opposite side. 

(See page 82.) 

Figures in Landscape Painting 

In landscape pictures it is often convenient to 
include one or more figures for the purpose of 
making the painting more interesting or to add a 
touch of strong color to a dull effect. Those figures 
are generally small in size, as large figures would 
make the landscape subordinate and used more like 
a background. For instance, on large portrait work 


71 





THE TEACHER OF 


where the figure dominates, the suggestive land¬ 
scape appears secondary to the main subject. But 
on the contrary, when one or more small figures are 
found in the field or up the road, such figures will 
not only increase the interest of the observer, but 
the artist will have the opportunity to brighten up 
the whole effect with few touches of strong colors. 
Small figures do not require too much detail, but 
their movement must clearly show the meaning of 
their action, walking, carrying, talking to one an¬ 
other, driving animals, etc. It is necessary to paint 
those figures of a size harmonizing with subjects 
nearby. Suppose you would paint a man walking 
on a path and have some trees at a similar distance 
about as high as that man himself, or suppose the 
door of a house near him would look half of his size, 
or his horse as big as an elephant. These incon¬ 
gruities must be avoided. Everything must com¬ 
pare favorably, so as to form correct size of natural 
subjects shown in the picture. 


Animal Life in Landscapes 
Of the many animals we have, few are popular 
with the landscape painters, these being cows, 
sheep, horse, chickens, cat and dogs. In many a 
case, animals are only painted to give interest to 
the landscape; secondary, to the landscape itself. 
THE ARTIST who wishes to enlighten his work, to 


72 





LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


make it more interesting, will paint several small 
cows walking slowly toward the pond or resting 
under the shady tree. If the cows are prominent 
and large in size, they will form the main subject 
of the picture, which may be called, an animal pic¬ 
ture, but if they are small and subordinate, they 
will only better the landscape without attracting 
too much attention. A good color for Brown Cows 
is a mixture of Van Dyke Brown and Burnt Sienna, 
more or less of one or the other according to the 
special effect wanted. White cows are painted in 
White and shaded with white and a trifle of Black 
and Terre Verte. 

Light Brown Cows are painted in Dark Chrome 
Yellow subdue with a trifle of Raw Sienna, and 
Black Cows are painted with Ivory Black mixed 
with a trifle of Burnt Sienna. Animals are not very 
easy subjects for students, because the drawing of 
the legs, hoofs, the form of the head, etc., and even 
the body, requires considerable drawing skill. My 
advice to students is, practice from nature, and 
sketch down in pencil a good number of animals 
until you learn from memory the diffierent peculi¬ 
arity of their bodies. You will find how easy it is 
to paint a cow with clumsy legs, too long or too 
thick, looking more like a newly-born veal rather 


73 




THE TEACHER OF 


than a grown-up cow. Horses are still more diffi¬ 
cult, their legs being more slender and their body 
round and smooth. (See page 84.) 


Snow Scene and Effect 

We all know that snow is white and students in 
their inexperience are bound to think of a snow 
scene as a great mass of white and reproduce it ac¬ 
cordingly. To an experienced artist, on the con¬ 
trary, such scene varies in colors about as much as 
the light of day, which, as we mentioned above, 
changes every two hours. 

If you have seen paintings representing snow T 
scene, you will remember that the general color is 
sometimes gray, sometimes blue, sometimes violet 
and not seldom greenish in tone. On a clear, sunny 
day, the snow, illuminated by the sun rays, takes 
a shade leaning toward delicate straw tone, and on 
those parts not illuminated, the color is clear violet. 
This contrast is very strong and harmonious. On a 
gray, cloudy day, snow appears of a cold white, 
leaning toward green, with shadow in cold, dark 
gray. In the evening toward sundown the general 
effect of the snow is bluish and with warm, gray 
shading. To paint a snow scene, the best method 
is to cover the canvas with a neutral tone, regard¬ 
less of the color of the snow, and on second appli¬ 
cation, the white, or nearly white shades, applied 


74 





LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


over the first one. This method applies to oil col¬ 
ors and pastel, but for water color painting the 
shading alone should be painted on and the lighter 
parts left plain white. Later on a toning up of this 
white part can be applied with a large brush. All 
white parts in water color painting must be kept 
clean white until the end of the picture, and a gen¬ 
eral shade, if necessary, painted over. For pastel, 
we suggest the same method as in oil painting, ap¬ 
plying your colors rather dark and lightening them 
on successive coatings by using lighter colors. Snow 
seen in the night, illuminated by a spray of light com¬ 
ing from a window or door, is a very effective scene. 
If the light is red, a stream of red will illuminate the 
snow, and other parts of the landscape will appear 
a violet blue. If the light is yellow this stream of 
light reflected on the snow will be rather yellow. 
Swedish and Norwegian artists, having a long win¬ 
ter season, understand and paint snow pictures very 
well and artistically. On a snow scene the sky is 
generally gray and heavy, and the snow will show 
up white in contrast against the gray above. You 
will never see a snow scene painted with big, heavy, 
stormy clouds, as such a combination if seen in na¬ 
ture is something unusual, but the gray, receding 
sky is more natural and effective. Of course, any 
other sky effect, such as a bright sunlight, or a red 
and yellow sunset effect, combine well with snow, 
and in this instance, like in all others, no rule 


75 




THE TEACHER OF 


can be set up for the student to follow. Nature is 
there to be copied and not to be dictated. You are 
now reproducing natural effects and must use your 
judgment in using those bright or subdue colors ac¬ 
cording to this special effects. 


Marine Effect 

On page 47 I have given considerable space to 
the painting of water scenes and its different pe¬ 
culiarity. STILL water, with its transparency, 
offers many beautiful effects, but also many color 
difficulties. Ocean scenes, with the movement of 
waves, offers drawing difficulties besides those of 
transparency. Waves must look easy going, and 
not solid wooden blocks, and long practice is re¬ 
quired beside much observation. It is said that an 
artist requires two years' ocean study before he can 
paint a fair reproduction. I mentioned drawing 
difficulties, as, like in the painting of other sub¬ 
jects, a tree trunk for instance, where you must 
show it in a round form, the ocean waves has a 
relief, a rounding form, not so easily reproduced. 
Still water has no relief and is considered flat. 
Waves are formed in a chain-like function, and 
while one part goes up the next part goes down, 
but always with a certain connection with other 
waves and movement. One wave, in the center of 
a marine, would be absurd, as such wave must be 


76 





LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


formed by many other waves close to it. The closer 
the water comes to the foreground, the larger the 
chain and the clearer the colors. There is here 
more movement, more relief, and consequently more 
drawing difficulties. In applying colors, work your 
brush so that its stroke follows the movement of 
waves, from top to bottom. Apply dark color at 
first, be it green or gray or blue and lighter shade 
with successive sittings and do not attempt to do 
the white foam until toward the finishing of your 
picture. These white or light finishing touches 
are not as difficult as the drawing of those waves 
with a form that will look easy running and con¬ 
nected with other parts of the water. Of course, 
the color of marine scenes varies with the changes 
of weather and atmosphere. The sky has a strong 
influence on the color of the water. The sun has 
another, the climate or weather another, sometimes 
producing dark blue effect, dark green effects, gray 
effect, etc., even red or yellow at the time of sunset. 
In painting marines from nature, avoid placing the 
horizon in the center of the picture. Have it either 
below or above. Your sky will look better if the 
horizon is low, as large sky gives a sense of great¬ 
ness to your picture, but if the main subject to be 
shown is the water effect, then by all means have 




THE TEACHER OF 


smaller space for the sky and allow large sweep of 
water. 


Night Effect 

If there is any effect that requires a good deal of 
schooling and imagination, that effect is a night 
scene. If you try to paint a night scene during the 
night, with artificial light, you will be disappointed 
when you see your work in the daylight. The best 
way for an artist to paint such a picture is by 
observation and by making several sketches from 
which the picture can be built up by memory. I 
have seen good pictures of this kind, none of which 
could give striking resemblance of the night light, 
but a pleasing combination of subdue tones, that 
were soft and artistic. The difficulty lies in the 
fact that while daylight pictures are seen by clear 
light of the day in which they were painted, the 
night scene is like a piece of night brought out and 
seen under improper atmosphere and light. For 
this it becomes difficult. Perhaps a fair picture of 
this kind can be made by using a certain object in 
the center of pictures illuminated by the moon or 
lamp, etc., and have all parts of the picture in a 
quite, unprentesious ground. For instance, a road 
with a house from where a certain light comes 
through a window, a building, illuminated by the 
moon, a person carrying light, etc. If such sub- 


78 





LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


jects are in the center of the picture and surround¬ 
ing parts are kept of low, gray, blackish tones, this 
surrounding ground will close out the daylight, so 
to say, from the center of the picture and produce 
a satisfying night scene. If your painting will 
show many objects spread as far as the frame, the 
work will very likely be a failure. You must allow 
a neutral ground between your central subject and 
the light of the day by which you see the picture, 
and such a neutral ground is the low, grayish, black 
tone from the frame toward the center. On moon 
scene pictures you will observe that the moon is in 
the center or well near the center of the canvas, 
for the simple reason as mentioned above, that the 
ground around the moon helps in producing that 
certain effect of light. The contrast brings out the 
brilliancy of the moon where your eye will concen¬ 
trate unconsciously when looking at the picture. 
On a marine or water scene you will generally no¬ 
tice the strong light reflection at about the center 
coming down toward the lower part of the picture 
and disappear in the dark gray or between dark 
waves. Many of the moonlight pictures, as I saw, 
were carried out in cold gray tones leaning toward 
the green shade, dark all around near the frame 
and allowing the moonlight to strike at some spot 
near the center. Many others were in more Bluish 
Gray, often even Purplish. Fritz Thalow had sev¬ 
eral good moonlight scenes, also night scenes with 
artificial light coming from houses, etc. 


79 




THE TEACHER OF 


Fournier painted a beautiful moonlight marines 
effect treated in cold gray, and in my opinion a small 
sized picture would not convey the impression of 
good moonlight effect for the reason that it would 
not be closed in by enough gray tone. 


TREES (See page 55.) 

Oil Painting 

For Dark Green Trees use Dark Chrome Green. 
For Light Green Trees use Light Chrome Green. 
You can also mix Prussian Blue mixed with 
Lemon Yellow or Light Cadmium Yellow, in varied 
proportion, to make any shade desired. 

Fall SEASON FOLIAGE use Burnt Sienna with 
Chrome Orange Vermilion with Burnt Sienna, Burnt 
Sienna alone. 


Water Color Painting 

For Dark Green Trees use Hooker's Green Dark. 

For Light Green Trees use Hooker's Green Light. 

You can also mix Prussian Green with Indian 
Yellow, in varied proportions, using more or less 
Yellow to make light or dark shades of Green. 

Fall SEASON FOLIGE use Burnt Sienna mixed 
with Dark Cadmium Yellow or Vermilion with a 
trifle of Burnt Sienna. Indian Red, also Venetian 


80 






LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


Red, are also useful colors, Pastel colors are gen¬ 
erally numbered and such numbers are changed by 
different factories for their own convenience. 


WATER (See page 51.) 

Oil Painting 

It is difficult to give a standing list of colors for 
water effects, as such color changes with the light 
of day and with the atmosphere. But these are few 
suggestions: 

If the sky is blue, the water generally reflects 
such a blue color, only a trifle darker than the sky, 
for instance, use Cobalt Blue, White and a very 
little of Ivory Black. For a cloudy day use White 
Raw Sienna and a trifle of Emerald Green. For 
Ocean Water the large waves require also sprays of 
White, and in the dark shadings a trifle of bone 
brown added to above given colors. Of course, more 
or less of the Raw Sienna and occasional touches of 
Hooker’s Green Dark are left with the judgment 
of student, who will use according to effect desired. 


Water Color Painting 

For clear Blue Sky use Cobalt Blue well diluted 
with water, with a trifle of Emerald Green added to 
it and perhaps a trifle of Paynes Gray. For Gray 


81 






THE TEACHER OF 


Sky atmosphere use Emerald Green with Payne’s 
Gray in considerable quantity. In water color paint¬ 
ing, the more or less quantity of water you add to 
your colors will change them entirely. Other color 
effects are given in the chapter on WATERS. 


MOUNTAINS AND HILLS (See page 69.) 

Oil Painting 

Hills are apt to have more Vegetation and of con¬ 
sequence more colors than mountains. The colors 
given for mountains can be changed for Hills sim¬ 
ply by adding more Green, Red and Brown to the 
colors given for the painting of mountains. Moun¬ 
tains at a distance appear gray, in the evening blue 
or purple; in the morning, lighted by the first rays 
of the sun, they appear red. Use Black, White and 
Raw Sienna for the Gray tint; use White, Blue and 
a trifle of Carmine and Yellow for the sunset; 
Bluish colors and White, touch of Dark Cadmium 
and trifle of Vermilion for sunrise effect. 


Water Color Painting 

For gray effect use a trifle of Payne’s Gray and 
Raw Sienna well diluted. For purplish effect use 
Cobalt Blue, trifle of Vermilion, toned down with a 


82 






LANDSCAPE PAINTING 


trifle of Raw Sienna. For sunrise effect a clear 
wash of Vermilion and Dark Cadmium Yellow. 
Either in water color or oil color effects, these given 
colors can be varied by changing the proportions of 
the different colors mentioned. 


ROCKS AND ROADS; (See page 65.) 

Oil Painting 

For reddish rocks of roads use Burnt Sienna or 
Van Dyke Brown mixed together or with a trifle of 
White. Add Ivory Black for cracks and heavy shad¬ 
ings. For grayish rocks and roads use Payne’s 
Gray, White and perhaps a trifle of Burnt Sienna 
added to the two previous colors; other effects men¬ 
tioned on chapter Rocks and Roads. 


HOUSES AND BUILDINGS (See page 61.) 

Oil Painting 

There are many colors used for houses and build¬ 
ings, but we will divide them in two classes, White 
and Brick Buildings. Such built of varied stones, 
or wooden, etc., can be reproduced by adding more 
or less white to Gray shade. For Brick Buildings 
use Burnt Sienna and White. For White Buildings 


83 






THE TEACHER OF 


usg a good deal of White with a little touch of Dark 
Cadmium Yellow. 


Water Color Painting 

Use Burnt Sienna well diluted with a trifle of Ver¬ 
milion. For White Buildings your pictures White 
paper will be a good local color. 


ANIMALS (See page 72.) 

Oil Painting 

Dark Brown Cows—Van Dyke Brown, Burnt 
Sienna. 

Black Cows—Ivory Black, trifle of Crimson Lake, 
trifle of White. 

Light Brown Cows—Raw Sienna, Dark Cadmium, 
White. 

White Cows—White, toned down with trifle of 
Paynes Gray. 

Sheep of Different Colors—Same shades as Cows. 

Horses of Different Colors—Same colors as Cows. 

Fowls of all Colors—Black, Gray (Paynes), Raw 
Sienna, White, Vermilion for combs, Raw Sienna 
for legs. 

Water Color 

Same names of colors used in oil painting, with 
exception of White, not used in Water Color Paint¬ 
ing. 


84 













INDEX 


Preface _ 

Colors and Materials_ 

Oil Colors_ 

Water Colors_ 

Pastel Colors_ 

Beginning the Painting 

Coloring_ 

Color Harmony_... 

Perspective_a_ 

Atmosphere and Value.. 


Composition _ 

Drawing_ 

Sky_ 

Water_ 

Trees and Folliage_55 and 

Houses and Buildings_61 and 

Rocks and Roads_65 and 

Hills and Mountains_69 and 

Figures _71 and 

Animals_72 and 

Snow Scenes_ 

Marine_ 

Night Effect- 


5 

. 7 

.12 

.13 

.14 

.17 

.25 

.28 

.35 

.37 

.39 

.41 

.43 

.51 

80 

83 

83 

82 

84 

84 

.74 

-76 

_78 


87 

























* 






I 








































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Chicago 

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89 


The Teacher of Conventionalism. By D. M Camp.ana. 

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90 


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Publishers of Art Books 
CHICAGO, ILL. 



91 








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I 



